Finding treasure on the Camino de Santiago

Sunday 12th June 2016 – Quintanilla del Monte to San Juan de Ortega

Km’s walked – 33,0 ; Steps taken – 45877 ; flights – 38

DAY 12 of actual walking

“Practise random acts of loving kindness, and acts of senseless beauty!”

A lovely early 6h00 start.  Cool outside, but pleasant. We stopped often to fix Sarah’s shoes (new socks) and to air our feet.  We kept seeing the same Pilgrims as one does.  We got to Belorado at 7h30 and it was practically deserted obviously. I was gagging for a coffee.  Wes tumbled on a Truckers stop and had a delicious coffee and a custard pastry to share. Belarado must be really nice when it is alive and awake.  It has a lovely square and some beautiful buildings. Wan into Jenie form the other day along the way.  There were only a few hamlets along the way.  We stopped at some point to have a picnic lunch which was delicious.

It was a long day, luckily it was overcast. The scenery was spectacular again, we walked through fields with so many green hues it was unbelievable. Areas coved in Broom.  Old bridges and powder blue skies and church steeples were always pin our sights. A long walk through a Pine forest and an Oak forest. Towards the end of the day I played Sound of Music tracks which always cheer me up. We walked into St Juan at 16h00. Tired but pleased to be there.We didn’t “collect to many countries”, as many people we said “Buen Camino” to didn’t seem to want to engage.

Sarah attended Pilgrim mass.  She said it was welcoming and authentic. We went to dinner (included again in our day because of the remoteness of San Juan – pop 20). After dinner we needed to settle and the waiter asked for our hotel card, but Sarah had left the “hotel” card in the room, she skipped out to go and collect it.  As she left there was an exchange in Spanish between the Waiter and the owner of the place, and he ran to the door of the Restautant and tried to call her by singing “Babe, don’t go ……!” It was funny and charming and so unexpected.  We laughed and laughed.

Walking back the 200mts to our hotel, we saw Frans, The German that loves Princess Stephany and her crown.  I called out to him, he leapt over a little wall and practically drowned me in an embrace he was so happy to see me (haven’t seen hi since Friday).  He was smiling and telling us in broken English it was his 40th Wedding anniversary. Lovely man. His energy was so genuine and lovely. A perfect end to a perfect day.

Early rise tomorrow for a 30 km day. All the way to Burgos, where we have rest day. Just in time. Yay! 

Camino gifts; The picnic lunch in a great shady spot, Frans’s absolute joy at seeing me today, the continuous beauty around me, and my healthy feet.